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- Metals explorer St George Mining (SGQ) will step up drilling at its flagship Mt Alexander project in WA’s northeastern goldfields
- The drilling will test a recently discovered conductive feature located below a high-order nickel-copper soil anomaly at the Fish Hook prospect
- The deep conductive feature was detected by recent magnetotelluric (MT) and audio-magnetotelluric (AMT) surveys
- St George has now planned an expedited diamond drilling program to test the large and promising feature
- The company is also conducting infill definition RC drilling at Stricklands, with a 3000-metre program designed to test the shallow, high-grade deposit
- Data from this program will be used for a JORC-compliant resource estimate expected late this year
- St George Mining closed Friday’s session 4.17 per cent with shares trading for 11.5 cents each
Metals explorer St George Mining (SGQ) will step up drilling at its flagship Mt Alexander project in WA’s northeastern goldfields.
The drilling will test a recently discovered conductive feature located below a high-order nickel-copper soil anomaly at the Fish Hook prospect.
The discovery
The deep conductive feature was detected by recent magnetotelluric (MT) and audio-magnetotelluric (AMT) surveys.
The MT/AMT surveys delineated a large feature from around 250 metres to 750 metres below surface, suspected to host nickel-copper sulphides.
The potential lode seems to be dipping to the northwest, which is similar to the geology of other mineralised zones across the Cathedrals Belt.
A recent seven-hole reverse circulation (RC) drilling program was largely targeted around the anomalous area, but was planned before receiving the MT/AMT data. The drilling was too shallow to intersect the conductive feature, and no nickel-copper sulphides were detected in any of the holes.
St George has now planned an expedited diamond drilling program to test the large and promising feature.
Drill it down
Two rigs are being mobilised to site, with one expected as soon as this weekend.
That rig will start drilling the conductive feature immediately upon the completion of downhole electromagnetic surveys of the RC drill holes. The other rig is expected later this month.
St George Mining Executive Chairman John Prineas says things are progressing well across the Cathedrals Belt.
“We are very pleased to be ramping up the drill campaign at Mt Alexander,” John said.
“Diamond drilling of the deeper MT conductive targets will start shortly and we are excited to have another high-quality target to drill at the Fish Hook Prospect.”
Further diamond drilling is also to be completed at the Stricklands prospect. This program will consist of six holes for metallurgical testwork.
St George is already conducting infill definition RC drilling at Stricklands, with a 3000-metre program designed to test the shallow, high-grade deposit.
Data from this program will be used for a JORC-compliant resource estimate expected late this year.
The company will then undertake a scoping study to map the pathway to production for a potentially low-cost, high-margin mining operation at Mt Alexander.
Next steps
There’s still no timeframe on when things will really get moving at Mt Alexander.
There’s a lot of work to be done to fully understand the complex geology across the Cathdrals Belt, with potentially rich nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group element mineralisation hidden among the faultlines and mafic/felsic intrusives.
Fish Hook is currently 100 per cent owned by SGQ, while the Stricklands, Radar, West End and Fairbridge/Cathedrals prospects are 75 per cent held by St George in a joint venture with Western Areas.
The continued MT/AMT surveying will hopefully uncover more targets, while the deep diamond drilling will hopefully confirm St George’s suspicions of high-yield mineralisation across its tenements.
St George Mining closed Friday’s session 4.17 per cent with shares trading for 11.5 cents each.
